Auction of Brooke Astor’s Furnishings Will Benefit Nonprofits

Sotheby’s is offering at auction 901 objects from the two homes of the late Brooke Astor, a New York philanthropist whose estate and charitable bequests were in limbo in recent years because of a family lawsuit, and the proceeds will go to nonprofits Ms. Astor supported during her lifetime, reports NBC New York.

The proceeds were expected to total $6-million to $9-million, and had already reached $8.7-million going into the final day of the auction on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

Ms. Astor was a longtime supporter of the New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also donated to the Bronx Zoo, Central Park, the Animal Medical Center of New York, New York City’s public schools, and many nonprofits in Maine.

After she died in 2007, at the age of 105, her estate became embroiled in a long court battle involving her son, Anthony Marshall. The dispute, which lasted five years, ended in March with a settlement that released about $100-million for her charities and reduced the amount Mr. Marshall would receive from the estate.

Mr. Marshall was convicted in 2009 of exploiting Mr. Astor’s mental condition (she suffered from dementia) to implement changes in her will that put the estate under his control and reduced that amount she left to charity. Mr. Marshall was sentenced to one to three years in prison and is free pending an appeal.